The use of tines is well known in the art of soil aeration and cultivation, and a variety of tine shapes have been employed with varying success. The applicant, Holland Equipment Limited, has manufactured tines having a variety of shapes, including commercially known products such as the Shattertine™, Finetine™, and Sportstine™ tines. Tines are commonly comprised of an attachment member for mounting the tine on the appropriate equipment, and a tip at a point distant from the equipment. The tine is provided with a leading edge which penetrates the ground surface upon rotation of the tine due to mounting on a rotatable shaft or roller on the equipment.
There have also been numerous attempts to provide implements or equipment having improved aeration potential, comprising novel tine assemblies and means of manipulating such assemblies. U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,580 to Huxford teaches an implement comprising a frame moveable in a direction of travel, the frame housing two rotatable shafts each having a plurality of tines situated thereon. The rotatable shafts are angled off a line perpendicular to the direction of travel (known as the “swing angle”) to cause the shafts to rotate when drawn in the direction of travel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,232 to Mayer teaches yet another implement with angled shafts. The Mayer implement comprises a frame having side members and centre members, the rotatable shafts with tine assemblies extending therebetween comprising tines similar to the Shattertine™ tines of the applicant. Each of the inner ends of the shafts in Mayer is in rotatable, pivotable engagement with a centre member by means of a swivel point, and the outer ends communicate with the side members of the frame at one of a plurality of selectable receiving positions, affording the ability to adjust the swing angle of the shafts.
Conventional tines for use with the above devices have been found to provide only a limited range of soil disturbance (in terms of volume and surface area, at various swing angles), even with the various innovative implements that employ them. Creating larger, heavier and thus more costly tines to produce greater soil disturbance results in undesirable manufacturing cost increases. Also, some conventional tine configurations fail to provide a structure that will penetrate the ground surface with ease, resulting in poor or uneven aeration and/or cultivation efforts.